


Feline heroes

by xfireflyskyx



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Cat Avengers, Fluff, M/M, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-04-02 12:23:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4059868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xfireflyskyx/pseuds/xfireflyskyx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Loki's spell backfires with tremendous force, all of the Avengers plus Loki end up going through some rather worrying changes. Now it's a case of coping with four legs, whiskers and a tail. What is going to happen now? Cat Avengers! Fluff and team bonding!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Feline heroes

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you don't mind, but I had to write this story. It won't be a particularly long story, but it may change depending on what you guys wish to see later on down the road, such as pairings and the rating. It doesn't have to have pairings BTW. Please enjoy!

‘That stupid Loki! Coming in here with his stupid magic and his stupid megalomaniac personality, daddy issues on the side,’ the Charcoal Bengal cat pushed a set of armour along the ground- or rather- tried to.

Tony Stark AKA Iron Man sulked like Christmas was never going to be a thing again as he attempted to push the world’s most expensive armour along the wet ground.  
It was drizzling and Tony was beginning to get really cold. The icy sharpness of the October chill seemed to seep out of the ground, finding routes into his body through his paws.

‘This is where Captain- I haven’t lost my virginity- America could really come in handy, or even Point Break. I need muscle!’ Tony yowled out his anger to the grey heavens. He was exhausted, far from home and separated from the rest of his team.

After that magical fallout that left even Loki to fall under the effects of the miasma he unleashed, the whole team were now wondering New York, lost and feeling the effects of their new, furry and less resilient bodies. 

‘No, I should thank Loki and Bloody Steve for this, him and that shield!’ Tony huffed, as he shifted the helmet along the grotty alleyway.

Tony could only meow, even though he could form words in his head. If he could talk he would have spoken to Jarvis to deploy an armour capable of moving on its own. Tony swore to the heavens for his stupidity in wearing a prototype armour. It was on hand when the call came up and like an idiot with zero foresight, Tony wore it to the battle. 

But alas, even if he could talk the armour power was now down to zero as of one minute ago, so Jarvis couldn’t even listen to his plaintive meows and screams for help. Not only that, the subcutaneous repeaters he placed underneath his skin to call a suit to himself didn’t work. Either Loki’s magic fried them or the signals were jammed for some reason. It was a massive problem since Tony would have to take them out to fix them if they didn’t miraculously work again.

Exhaustion was settling in nicely now, much to Tony’s absolute disgust. This body had virtually no stamina. The armour could only be budged along piece by tiny piece. Each segment must have weighed more than his whole current body and was proving tricky to stay out of sight from the citizens of New York. 

Heavy black clouds were gathering over the city and the rain was beginning to speckle the concrete jungle. 

Tony’s whiskers dropped. Water he could tolerate, but the cold he could not. He stopped trying to push the armour along and decided to escape the rain by slinking inside the chest piece. He was too big for the helmet, but the chest segment was easily the best shelter from the now pouring rain.

Tony curled up, protecting his now exposed Arc reactor, which somehow managed to shrink in size to accommodate his smaller body. 

‘And here I was, thinking I was immune to Loki’s voodoo. Maybe it was because he didn’t use the staff?’ Tony shivered, the water permeating through his sleek, spotted coat, chilling through his skin and setting his body to freeze.

Tony wouldn’t call for help like this, he couldn’t. Anyone could come along, report the armour to the local authorities, who would then get in touch with those Fat cats in government who would then attempt to take his armour for their own. Who knows where the armour would end up!

Night was incoming fast. The sun setting would make the temperature plummet. It would be likely for it to frost during the night. Tony really wanted to be home before it came to that; he desperately needed to warm up before he caught Hypothermia or Pneumonia. 

Without really helping it, Tony began to meow pitifully. The meows were long and loud. The Bengal cat kitted out with a powerful set of lungs. Tony couldn’t help it, he was nervous and very very cold. 

It didn’t take long for someone to hear the call.

Tony didn’t hear the intruder at first for the rain was coming down heavily. The rain masked all noise and even with Tony’s enhanced hearing he couldn’t hear anything. Instead he felt a presence, and not a friendly one.

Tony froze, believing it to be some drunkard or pot smoker to get highly excited over discovering Iron man’s armour. He didn’t want to investigate for a moment but decided to buck up and check it out. He wasn’t a coward. Tony firmly believed that nothing came in life from being timid and scared.

He slowly peered out from the edge of the armour, his tail covering the light of the Arc reactor so that it wouldn’t give away his position.  
Tony didn’t have time to react to the sudden force bearing down on him from the surface of the Adamantium chest plate. 

Tony was pulled out by a creature slightly bigger and far heavier than himself. Tony ended up with his belly lined up with the freezing cold, wet ground, his legs clamped under him and his neck being pierced by razor sharp claws.

Wet, cold and now accosted by a set of powerful claws; this really was not Tony’s day at all.

‘Dare move, Man of Iron and I will slit your throat!’ An angry voice, sounding oddly familiar threatened the now terrified billionaire. 

‘How nice of his royal kitty highness to drop in. Tell me, why would the wizard cast his own spell upon himself?’

‘You are hardly in a position to gloat,’ the claws sunk further into his skin, causing blood to well out.

‘Yeah, gloat at you apparent failure-‘Tony screamed out when claws sunk all the way into his flesh. Tony bucked hard, throwing Loki off for a moment, causing him to clasp the other paws talons into skin to prevent being thrown off. 

Tony didn’t agree. He rose up on strong legs, tail swishing to and fro in agitation as he swung his body around and unsheathed his own claws.  
‘What are you doing here Loki? Haven’t you done enough?’ Tony screamed out in anger at the god.

The god of Evil simply jumped away. Tony finally laid eyes on his adversary. Loki had transformed into a cat that resembled a tiny lion, except he was pitch black. His eyes stared out from a dark face, a stark contrast as they glowed a light, forest green.

The larger cat slunk around, his belly tucked low to the ground. Tony had seen cats do that before- they did it when they were about to pounce.

Tony didn’t allow him the chance. Tony turned tail and ran for it. Tony knew he wouldn’t get out of that situation alive and he wasn’t quite stubborn enough to allow himself to get killed. Without his armour, Tony was a normal human, albeit a highly intelligent one. 

Tony ran the length of the grotty old alleyway, leaving his precious armour behind. Rain batted his face as he ran out into the main street.

He didn’t pause, even when people who were hurrying towards the warmth of the buildings nearly stepped on him or crushed his tail didn’t give Tony any cause for concern.  
Tony crossed the road, forgetting to wait for the traffic to stop. The rain was so heavy, and the humans driving the cars probably had trouble spotting a cat with a dark grey coat as it darted between the wheels and under the bumpers.

Luckily, Tony managed to traverse the busy road without getting squashed. His fur was sodden through and felt heavy on his tired limbs. The intense burst of speed he put in to get as far from Loki as he could manage was a huge drain on his energy stores. Tony felt like he could drop to the ground then and there and sleep through a typhoon.

Just as he rounded the corner of a skyscraper he didn’t recognise in his smaller form, he felt a presence nearby.  
Tony hissed, his fangs revealed to show that he would fight for his life.

The cat neared, the rain making it difficult to tell the colour of the blob that was making its way over. Pretty soon though it became apparent that it wasn’t Loki.  
This cat was huge! Bigger than Loki even. It also looked deformed, as if it’s back arched up into a weird square shape. 

Tony retreated a little, intimidated by the size of the creature coming nearer. Tony saw golden fur, wet from the rain and sagging down to resemble Wookie fur. In fact, when it stopped before the engineer Tony actually thought it was Chewbacca. 

He knew it wasn’t Chewbacca. Those expressive sky blue eyes, regal bearing and the massive hammer laying over a muscled back with the hand grip secured by a long, fluffy tail revealed who it was.

‘Point Break, I am so glad to see you!’ Tony expressed his happiness to see the god. He felt safer knowing Thor was here. ‘Loki,’ Tony gasped out, feeling the effects of the weather and his exhaustion. 

‘Tony, you have seen my brother?’ Thor bounded over, allowing Mjolnir to drop onto the sidewalk. He cast an eye over Tony, seeing the blood clotting Tony’s ruff. The rain washed the blood away, dropping down and tingeing the puddles pink. The adrenaline surging through his bloodstream made Tony forget about the wounds Loki dealt him.  
‘We need to get you back to the tower,’ Thor said. ‘The others except you and Bruce have found their way back. I have come out in this deluge to find you both.’

‘Rain doesn’t affect you huh?’ Tony then dropped down, exhaustion getting the better of him.

‘Man of Iron!’ Thor exclaimed, the thunder clouds gathering due to his worry. Tony was breathing raggedly and he was still bleeding. The blood seeped over the ground.  
Thor nuzzled Tony’s side, bringing his great head under Tony’s belly and managing to sling him over his broad back. Leaving Mjolnir behind, Thor sped through the streets, coming back the way he came. 

Tony couldn’t really tell what was happening. His eyes were closing, gradually. Black spots danced in his eyes and obscured his vision. His body resumed its spontaneous shivering and Tony could do nothing but trust his team mate to get him back to the tower on time.

Thor ran back through the less crowded streets. Car horns beeped and people ducked into doorways. There was a flurry of umbrellas, painting the streets with their cheery colours. Thor sped up after a glimpse of a blood red umbrella being held by woman with a downtrodden expression. 

Tony was barely aware during the whole journey, but by the time Thor entered the foyer of Avengers tower, three other cats sat at the feet of a frantic looking Pepper Potts, Tony was barely conscious. 

Pepper called a younger woman over and spoke to her in a hurried manner. The lady sped off in a direction Tony didn’t know where, but didn’t have to wait long before Pepper was handed a soft towel.

Pepper bent over and picked Tony up off Thor’s back. Tony was so out of it that he didn’t really realise Pepper was already walking towards the elevator to take him up to the penthouse. Tony could hear her talking, but didn’t know who to. 

Three cats followed Pepper into the lift, standing with her and looking up at the bundle she held close to her heart. Tony was breathing heavily. It sounded like something was rattling inside his throat and his breaths were laboured.

“Yes, hello, can I get an emergency vet over here please?” There was a pause but then Pepper began to talk again, “I am calling from the Avengers tower- yes- as soon as possible. I need someone trustworthy, able to keep a secret. It is very important.”

Pepper carried on talking for a few more moments before she pressed the hang up option on her smart phone and returned it back into her jacket pocket.  
“What am I going to do with the lot of you?” pepper exclaimed tiredly.

The elevator doors opened and Pepper swept in, making a beeline for the sofa. “Jarvis, raise the temperature in here up to twenty one degrees please!”  
“Of course Miss Potts. Please take good care of Sir; he got into some serious trouble and I wasn’t there to help him.”

One of the cats meowed loudly after Jarvis spoke, a large cream coloured cat with a long, ashen grey tail. His eyes glinted an ocean blue hue. The cat looked upset.  
Pepper settled Tony down on one of the cushions, placing him down with extra attentiveness. She didn’t want to jostle the sick and injured cat.

“I need another towel. Steve,” the cream cat appeared to stand to attention, his ears swivelled forwards to listen to the red head, “could you go into the bathroom down that corridor and fetch me another towel? Jarvis will open the doors for you.”

The cat meowed once and ran over to the desired room. It took him virtually no time at all to fetch another towel. It was a bit awkward for Steve to carry in his feline form, so he ended up biting one corner and dragging it across the floor.

The two other cats were sat close to Tony, one with deep auburn and black patches and the other with a grey base and darker stripes. Both cats were watching Tony with their large eyes. The darker cat resembled an owl with its strange curled ears with fluffy tufts protruding from them. 

Pepper, very gently, started to towel out the water from Tony’s sodden fur. His striking patterns looked messy due to the amount of lingering water. Pepper knew enough to know that a cat with wet fur would lose their temperature pretty quick, and Tony was already cold and weak.

Steve hovered around. He jumped onto the back of the sofa and walked up and down the length in his agitation. The other two cats simply sat and observed.  
Ten minutes later Jarvis spoke up, “Miss Potts, the vet is here. Shall I send her up?”

“Please do Jarvis!” Pepper said, feeling relieved in the knowledge that Tony could get some help very soon.

Very soon indeed the lift arrived and a lady wearing a long raincoat and carrying a large bag walked into the penthouse.

Pepper stood and made her way over to the lady, being the ever polite hostess no matter the circumstance.

“Hello, my name is Pepper. I trust you can keep what you are about to do a secret?” Pepper was polite, but she wanted to be clear.

“I was told that my patient was to be kept in the strictest confidence, please trust me when I say that I won’t tell a word about this to anyone. My name is Doctor Greene by the way.” The vet peeled the coat away from her person. Pepper took the coat from her and hung it up out of the way. Jarvis would make sure the coat was nice and dry by the time the vet left.

“What is the problem Miss Potts?”

Pepper gestured for Doctor Greene to come over to the sofa. The veterinarian’s brows rose when she spied the group of cats, all in tip top physical condition, stood guard over a very sick looking cat with a beautifully patterned charcoal coat.

The Doctor fell to her knees next to Tony so that she could look him over. Steve, Clint and Natasha kept close, scrutinising the vet’s work with piercing eyes.  
“What is his name?” The vet asked Pepper as she gave the sick cat gentle strokes over both of his cheeks.

The vet waited for a few breaths. She was about to ask again but Pepper beat her to it, “His name is Toby.” The vet hummed. She began to look Tony over; checking his teeth, eyes, ears and then back to his mouth. She then tended to the punctures on his ruff. She brought out some iodine solution from her bag and used that with a cotton dab to clear away the drying blood and to dab the wound clean. 

“These scratches aren’t too deep, they won’t need any stitches. I suggest you keep them clean whilst they heal. You can have this Iodine bottle. Just clean the wound twice a day until it scabs over. Let’s hope he doesn’t get into any more fights!” Greene missed the way the cats and Pepper flinched at those words. Tony would never stop getting into fights as the Iron Man.

Once she cleaned the wound she went over to the kitchen and washed her hands before tending to Tony once again.

She jammed her thumbs in so that she could open his mouth wide to take a good, long look. His teeth where really healthy, there was no sign of tartar. His throat looked a little inflamed though.

“How long have you had Toby?” Doctor Greene asked as she brought out a stethoscope from her bag.  
Pepper giggled darkly, “for about twenty years or so.”

Doctor Greene looked up, her face flummoxed. “But that is impossible! This cat looks to be about five years old!” Indeed, except for the snotty appearance, this cat had excellent fur quality, his teeth where one of the best she has seen in a cat and he was lightly muscled.

Greene moved Tony onto his side. His chest was rising and falling slowly and his chest was still rattling. Tony didn’t seem to notice the way he was being prodded and poked around he was so out of it. Greene then finally seemed to notice the glowing blue instrument in his chest. The fur obscured it slightly so she didn’t see it straight away.  
“What is this?” She asked, placing her fingers over the humming gadget. Greene noticed the Calico cat hiss menacingly at her when she touched the strange gadget. Greene retreated her fingers and the female cat seemed to calm down.

“Natalie is telling you to leave that alone.” Pepper said, taking care to not use her real name.

Greene breathed in and carried on with her work. She placed the end of the stethoscope over Tony’s chest, away from the glowing gadget and listened to his heart and lungs. She had difficulty because the thing was humming so loud that it was obscuring the pounding of his heart. She moved it over his ribs, hoping to be able to hear more.

It was fainter but she did hear something. A fierce pulse. The lungs were rattling but then again it didn’t take a genius to know that the cat had been out in the cold and wet.

“Toby appears to have a case of exhaustion as well as a bad cold. He was lucky not to have developed feline Pneumonia. He needs plenty of rest and warmth to be able to recover. I will administer an antibiotic just to see that he will recover quicker. Other than that he will be fine.”

Everyone, cats included, seemed to sigh a breath of relief. 

“Don’t let him go outside for a while and make sure he doesn’t get stressed. That could cause him to get sick again.”

“Thank you very much!” Pepper thanked the vet, feeling immensely relieved. 

“Also,” Greene said, her tone going dark, “I would recommend taking that thing out. A cat, or any living creature for that matter, cannot benefit from something that obtrusive lying within their body.” If Greene put two and two together she didn’t let anyone know. After all, the Arc reactor was kept as a tightly guarded secret from anyone outside of the Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D’s and Tony personal friend’s radar. Hopefully she would just think that Stark was experimenting on animals from some strange reason.  
Greene administered the antibiotics as a shot. Once she was dine she stood up and gathered her coat.

“Thank you for all of your help!” Pepper thanked, giving the vet a cheque for her services. Pepper paid far more money than the service required. “Your service and hush money. If the media learns of what happened here than I’m afraid that drastic actions will be put forth.”

Doctor Greene nodded, accepting the cheque and then leaving without another word. Pepper didn’t mean to sound so intimidating, but she would do anything to protect the team whilst they were indisposed. 

Pepper turned back around to see that Steve had moved over Tony and was using his own body to help transfer heat over to Tony. Steve was larger than Tony, so he managed to circle around most of Tony’s body.

“How about we get the fire going? I will get some duvets and make a sort of nest for him.”

Pepper collected a blanket for Tony, handing it to Clint who then with the help of Natasha, spread it over Steve and Tony. The Bengal cat’s shivers started to abate. Pepper threw some wood into the large fire place and lit it. The fire got stronger as time went by, but by the time it was at its peak the room was warming nicely. Even though Jarvis could control the temperature in the room the fire gave off a natural heat that seemed to be both alive and invigorating. 

Steve allowed Pepper to move Tony into the nest of blankets and duvet’s a little bit closer to the fire, but far enough away so that he wouldn’t get too hot. Tony was deeply asleep, his breathing a little bit healthier now that he was finally warm.

Steve climbed back into the nest and offered his comforting presence to wash over the sleeping cat.

“Jarvis, what kind of cats are we dealing with here?” Pepper asked the AI. 

“Mr Rogers is a Javanese, Mr Barton is an American Curl and Miss Romanoff is a Calico and Sir is a Bengal.” The AI dutifully responded.

“Can you run some basic information about each breed by?”

“Certainly Miss. Bengal Cats are energetic and require lots of stimulation in their environment. They also possess a gentle and affectionate temperament. Javanese cats are energetic, athletic, and intelligent and can be either playful or serious. Calico cats are can vary as the term ‘Calico’ refers to coat patterns and colour. Their personalities often vary. American Curls have an investigative personality and love to perch in high places. They are intelligent and love to play.”

“Thank you Jarvis. It looks like I won’t be sleeping much tonight. I have much to prepare for.” Pepper ran a hand through her hair. She needed to feed the team, but she didn’t have appropriate food to give to a cat. Unless…

“Jarvis, what food do we have that is suitable for a cat?”

“We have some frozen chicken and cans of salmon. Sir has many cans of salmon stocked in the pantry. They would be an appropriate food to give to any breed of cat.” 

“That will have to do,” Pepper muttered, feeling increasingly tired about the day. Her mood was dropping much like the rain outside. She felt tired. She had a long day riding the elevators in the tower, attending meetings and worrying about Tony when the team was called up to deal with Loki. 

Pepper went about opening tins of salmon and placing them in bowels for the cats to eat. Tony was still asleep so he would have to wait until the morning for his dinner. Clint and Natasha jumped onto the counter and immediately tucked into their meal, being the ever gracious personalities they were. Pepper was glad they were not proud enough to turn their nose up at the bland meal.

“I guess the mission made you guys famished!” Pepper said, placing a heaping bowel of salmon down next to Steve, who was still curled around Tony. 

Pepper noticed that she had disturbed Steve from cleaning Tony’s fur with his tongue. Pepper blinked, not expecting the heroes to possess feline instincts at all. They all seemed to keep their heads in their cat forms, so she was rather surprised.

Steve nodded his thanks when Pepper discarded the fish bowel next to him, but didn’t start to eat. He instead carried on cleaning Tony’s messy fur. All the blood was gone now, thanks to a joint effort from Doctor Greene and Steve. Tony was now dry, but his fur was still clumped together. Steve was taking care to get the ratty fur back to how it should be.

By now the time had run by like a racehorse. It was getting late and the sun had long since set. The mood in the penthouse was grim. Both Thor and Bruce were still out on the streets with no word from either of them. Thor was evidently out looking for his brother whilst Natasha and Clint where worried about the whereabouts of the Hulk. They didn’t know if Bruce changed into a cat too and whether he could Hulk out as a cat. Steve, on the other hand, was too worried about Tony. He seemed to have managed to mentally block out everything beyond the confines of the little nest of blankets.

Pepper was cleaning up the bowels in the kitchen whilst simultaneously allowing the toaster to cook two pieces of brown bread for her. Once she had done with cleaning and had buttered her toast, Pepper looked ready to retire. Instead she picked up a Starkpad.

“I’m heading into my room. Jarvis will watch out for you. He will also open doors if you need to enter any rooms. Good night.” With a sigh of resignation, Pepper left the room.  
The lights dimmed down after she made her leave. Natasha’s indigo eyes scouted throughout the room whilst Clint’s light blue-grey eyes watched out for any signs of movement beyond the windows. They would stand sentinel throughout the night.

Steve snoozed, his ears remaining alert. His muzzle resting on Tony’s shoulder, a silent guardian giving comfort to his wounded team member.

**Author's Note:**

> This was going to be a really long one-shot. I am off on holiday so I cannot do anymore, but I really wanted to post this before I went. The next chapter will be even longer, hopefully twice or three times as long. Please comment and share your thoughts.
> 
> If you peeps wish to check out what each cat breed looks like I have provided a clear list of what each character transformed into:
> 
> Tony- Bengal
> 
> Steve- Javanese
> 
> Clint- American Curl
> 
> Natasha- Calico
> 
> Bruce- Abyssinian
> 
> Thor- Persian
> 
> Loki- Maine Coon


End file.
